Persuasive Essay On Poverty

There are several issues that Jerome H. Skolnick and Elliott Currie are trying to address in their book, Crisis in American Institutions. One of the substantive issues that they are addressing is poverty in a nation of wealth. Specifically, they are addressing how to cut the poverty rate in half. They put an emphasis on building a stronger economy, with more lively communities so that there is a better nation with no bad neighborhoods in extreme poverty and where stable work is a protection from poverty and a way out of it (91). This paper is going to talk about a major issue that Skolnick and Currie address along with their positions on that issue. They used data to help the readers understand where they are coming from. The paper will conclude with me explaining if their argument and data use was convincing along with my opinion on the subject.

What must the U.S. economy look like, when viewed through the everyday experiences of the working poor? Is America the land of opportunity or simply an economic trap from which there is little chance of escape? Taking a short view of the economy, where one low-wage job looks much like another and mobility is a challenge, the working poor are in an economic vise; squeezed by high prices for basic commodities like housing, food and gasoline on one end and unable to change their basic job situation on the other.

In “Nickel and Dimed”, Ehrenreich, the highly skilled journalist, wonders, “How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled?’ and, ‘How, in particular, we wondered, were the roughly four million women about to be booted into the labor market by welfare reform going to make it on $6 or $7 an hour?”(1). She is wanting to catch the attention of a specific group of people, the higher class and higher skilled workers and taxpayers. This class of people, who can help influence what the welfare reform does to help the single mothers and what the employees for the “unskillful jobs” get paid, are not always fully educated on what true poverty is. In fact, no person can truly experience poverty until they are actually in poverty and Adam Shepherd wanted to truly experience

These minimum wage jobs can barely keep her alive even if she was rationing her money as well as she could. “If we want to reduce poverty, we have to stop doing the things that make people poor and keep them that way. Stop underpaying people for the jobs they do” (Ehrenreich 195). She could see that the system was against the poor and prevented them from climbing the social ranks without luck. Although still attainable, the author depicts the difficulties of those in poverty and why the American Dream is more difficult to achieve than it is observed to be by the middle and upper class.

Author Harrell R. Rodgers, Jr. uses his article, “Why Are People Poor in America?,” to discuss the cultural/behavioral and structural/economic theories of why poverty exists as a social problem. First, Rodgers reviews the conservative theories, also known as the cultural/behavioral theories, of poverty. These views mostly consist of blaming the existence of poverty on the culture of laziness that has been growing in the poor population due to the availability of welfare. Many of the conservative authors that are mentioned in this article agree that welfare automatically makes the poor think that they are not personally capable of getting back on their feet by themselves; therefore, the poor

The view that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has been heard repeatedly in reference to America’s income inequality. Though ironic, it comes as no surprise that America, a continent that easily trumps other countries in terms of wealth would be affected by the issue of poverty at such high levels. While much has said regarding the poverty levels, many economists, educators and scholars feel that the income inequality in America may be the reason why it is difficult to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle or to rise out of poverty into the middle class in the current economic state. With this in mind, the only way America, has a chance of lessening or eliminating poverty altogether is by understanding how it exists.

Compared to the rest of the world the United States is economically prosperous however, many citizens are plagued with poverty and destitution. Poverty has become such a problem that one in six Americans are living below the poverty line (Yen). Despite the significant number of Americans living in poverty, most Americans are unaware of its vast scope and scale. The public’s apathy towards poverty has caused it to become an invisible epidemic. The middle -class’s flight from the cities has created de facto segregation between the impoverished and the financially comfortable. Lawmakers find that running on the platform of “fixing poverty” is not appealing to the majority of their middle-class constituents. The media turns a blind eye to

Poverty is present in today’s U.S. social system. For example, as Lesser states in the Clearinghouse Review, “Forty-six million Americans live in poverty” (1). Lesser then goes on to say how forty-six million Americans living in poverty correlates to almost one in every three single-parent families is poor (1). This is a daunting fact as it applies to today’s economic context with “rising unemployment rates and mortgage crises driving more individuals and families to seek the support of a cash-strapped social welfare structure” (Grijalva 1). With this in mind, many legislators are discussing the topic of poverty in the political realm. In order to tally the score of representatives the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law conducted its sixth annual Poverty Scorecard. “The 2012 Poverty Scorecard grades the voting record of every U.S. senator and representative on the most important poverty-related votes in 2012” (Lesser 1). The 2012 votes covered a range of topics such as budget and tax, food and nutrition, health care, housing, and many more (1). The results of the 2012 Poverty

Many reforms in the UnitedStates have been passed to help fight against the “War on Poverty”; but it has not been effective in eradicating poverty in the U.S. There are about 46 million people who are living in impoverished conditions and poverty continues to be a social issue in this country (Heritage Foundation, 2011) In the beginning, our country was formed under the belief that “this land is the land of opportunity and if we worked hard enough the American Dream can be gained” (Schwarz, 1997). People immigrate to this country today in hopes of becoming rich so they could gain a better life. In spite of coming to this country for a better life, many are faced with the lack of skills and money to succeed. In the end, most will end

While it has proven to be difficult to end poverty in America, Peter Edelman is optimistic. In his book So Rich, So Poor Edelman makes a call to action. There are four prominent ideas that underpin Edelman’s reasoning throughout the book: (1) More people must understand why poverty is still so prevalent in America; (2) extreme poverty must be taken into consideration as a shocking 6 million Americans’ sole income was food stamps in 2011. This fact alone creates a sense of urgency that drives Edelman; (3) increasing income inequality should be treated as a moral issue; and (4) bold political action will be required if substantive progress will be made in alleviating poverty.

When people hear the words “child poverty” some assume that this term may refer to homeless children who are living on the streets. This isn’t necessarily true, in fact some children who go to bed every night with a roof above their head still suffer from some form poverty. According to National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), 21% of children throughout the United States live in families who are considered poor. It is crucial for society to be more aware of this issue and to take part in contributing to help reduce child poverty within our country.

Unemployment is one of the major causes for economic troubles for the poor. In Elizabeth Warren’s America Without a Middle Class, it is said that today one in five American’s is unemployed. Today, America is risking the formation of a new underclass. An article Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on ‘Lost Decade’ by Sabrina Tavernise adds to this increasing unemployment rate by saying that “young, less-educated, mainly men, can’t support their children and form stable families because they are jobless.” Not having a job is one of the main causes as to why the under class is drowning in debt and why they have no money.

The definition and viewing of poverty is a topic that many find highly debatable and close to the heart. Poverty is what most people see as not having enough to live on, and struggling to get anything more. Race and location are often looked at in conjunction to poverty. The author of the first article, McMillian, focuses on redefining poverty to a general audience by limiting her word choice and choosing a more personal appeal to the intended audience. In the other article, the authors Fram, Miller-Cribbs, and Van Horn write for an expert audience of social workers to frame the cause of achievement gap in U.S. southern schools by increasing their credibility through specialized language and resources. By examining the specialized language

Poverty is a social problem that affects everyone on an economic, political and social level. The problem of human suffering is one that we must combat strategically on many levels. According to the United Nations, “in 2015 more than one billion people around the world live in a state of poverty, lacking the basic goods food, clothing, and shelter that humans need to survive” (“Poverty”). There are a great number of areas that keep individuals poor, such as lack of resources, inadequate income, lack of education, language barriers and the high cost of child care. Being able to work and provide basic necessities is our basic human right and we should not be deprived of these basic human rights that individuals need in order to live satisfying lives. The government has the responsibility of helping individuals in need with the economic assistance to feed, clothe, house, educate, provide health care and decent wages for every individual. They should ensure that individuals have access to resources that will help them build a better future. There are several ways that we can work together to strategically find solutions to end inequality among the poor individuals in our society.

The Preamble to the United States Constitution was a set of ideas to help make the country more ideal. The background behind this can be separated into two different categories. One provided the country with a way to fix their financial debt and beef up the military, which would also lead up to promoting the general welfare even more by including the freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. The other talks about using tax money to help out the ones in need (the lower class) which is a highly debated topic that people have multiple different questions and answers to.